Democratic Candidates Address Gay Rights

Geto suggested that Clinton's hesitancy on same-sex marriage stemmed from her religious upbringing. Yet he also described her as a passionate supporter of other gay-rights causes who is willing to raise those issues even before non-gay audiences.

One of Clinton's chief rivals, John Edwards, has acknowledged wrestling with his stance on gay marriage.

"I feel enormous conflict about it," he said in a televised debate in July. "This is a very, very difficult issue for me."

He noted that his wife, Elizabeth, broke ranks with him in June and publicly endorsed same-sex marriage.

The third Democratic front-runner, Sen. Barack Obama, belongs to the United Church of Christ, which supports gay marriage, but Obama has yet to go that far.

Many gays and lesbians have submitted questions they would like posed at the forum; Charlene Strong of Seattle said she'd like to be there in person.

Her longtime partner, Kathryn Fleming, died in December after being trapped by floodwaters, and Strong was initially barred from the hospital room because she was not considered immediate family.

"I'd like the candidates to spell it out _ what would you do to be sure that doesn't happen," Strong said. "How do you get to full equality?"

Evan Wolfson, a gay-rights lawyer and executive director of Freedom to Marry, said the good news _ in his view _ is that all the Democratic candidates support fairness for same-sex couples.

"The bad news is they haven't yet grasped that equality in marriage is how you achieve that fairness," Wolfson added. "There is no substitute. They wouldn't trade their marriage for a civil union. Why should gay Americans?"

Wolfson said he was frustrated by the candidates' sometimes awkward answers regarding same-sex marriage.

"Americans would respect someone who leads, rather than someone who ducks and evades," he said.